Job: teach kids from grades 4-12 on how to act, and how to operate the Alden High School's tech booth for A/V support.

Skills Improved On: leading, collaboration, problem-solving, confidence, expressing ideas

Certification(s) Obtained: none

Personal Experience: currently working...

Job: to manage money going out of the company (account payable), manage the website

Skills Improved On: collaboration, problem-solving, confidence, expressing ideas, compromising, budgeting/managing money, interviewing, resume building, technical skills(Square, Microsoft 365 applications)

Certification(s) Obtained: OSHA 10-Hour General Industry Course Completion Card & Certificate

Personal Experience: Since my technology teacher in 8th grade shared a news story featuring the high school's student-run manufacturing company, I wanted to be a part of this unique experience. It's not usual for a school to run a company that's entire ran by students for the purpose to prepare them for the work force outside of high school, so for that alone, I wanted to be in Bulldog Manufacturing. From 8th grade to my sophomore year, I have chosen electives that I needed to apply for the Business department of the company, with the help of the technical director of the middle school shows (and then my Computer Applications & Ecommerce teacher and the Robotics advisor). I applied with a finished resumé, and I interviewed for the Business Administrator position. I ended up getting the job, along with 16 juniors successfully joining the company.

During my time as a Business Admin, I learned several skills. I learned more about collaboration and the importance of it. Since elementary school, we have been in classrooms that fostered collaboration on projects and assignments. Bulldog MFG was a place to put that skill into practice. For sales, I collaborated with the Sales department to get the discount pricings right on the specific items we were selling fo rhtat particular sale. I ended up being a big enough part to join several Sales meetings, and I was able to pitch ideas for items that we could sell for future sales on our website. I also, nautrally, collaborated with the Marketing department, since the website is more of a marketing tool than a business tool. I was able to change the coloring scheme of the website based on what the month is commonly known for (April = rain), or after a holiday that was in the month (December = Christmas). For the fall sale (the first sale I put on the website), I was able to relay my idea for a custom background to be present in the fall sale section on the home page with the Graphic Designer. We worked together until we got in image we both liked, and I made that image as the background. The new addition was well received. It would also be one-of-a-kind because we didn't necessarily do that for future sales, but what replaced it was a customized banner at the top of the website, featuring the new themed logo for the month.

I also worked on confidence. Every Friday, we had a company meeting, which was the place to present ideas in front of everybody to share changes we want to make and new things we wanted to introduce. My main idea that I shared for the 2022-2023 team was the idea of having items not be tracked by stock, so that customers could buy anything we are selling, even if it's not part of a sale and we don't physically have the item in our inventory room. Before this pitch, I was mainly silent during these meeting for a few months, peeping out my ideas ever so often. This was my first big pitch. It was well-received, so I began progress toward implementing that idea. I also had opportunities to present myself towards other people visiting to view the company, either by a pre-arranged visit during school hours, or for public open houses.

Due to the nature of my job, I also faced difficulties. I worked through problems I didn't know how to solve. The company had a policy, stating that you should try to talk to at least two other members of the company to figure out your problem before coming up to one of the two advisors of the company for help. So, whenever I had a problem or question, I talked to a person that I though would have the best probability of knowing the answer, which were mainly the department leads or a person that I knew knew a lot about their department. I did end up going to the advisors on multiple occasions, which I may not be able to express publicly here.

Job: to help MDS Associates with adding content & tags on their Shopify webiste, and to help progress time-sensitive tasks

Skills Improved On: collaboration, independence, responsibility, completing tasks with a deadline, adding tags, gramatical fixing

Certification(s) Obtained: none

Personal Experience: My experience at MDS Associates was one that helped narrow down what job I like to do. The main chunck of what I did were mundane tasks that the other people needed done, which is completely fine, because I was in more of an "internship" role, only working for half the day, 3 days a week. I helped rename picture files in Google Drive at first. This helped jog my brain in thinking of way to cut the time down by creating a JavaScript program, but I never made it because I had no experience with APIs, and my JavaScript knowledge was lack luster at the time.

Once a few weeks went by, I then got started on the website. The job assigned to me was to mainly look through the articles posted on the website and to add tags to them and to occasionally fix gramatical errors when I see them. I did what I was asked to do. Sometimes, I was given the activity of adding products to the Shopify website, which were products already on the mother website. That task was the most fun task I have completed during my time there.

Overall, I don't regret my time there. This helped me decide that the career I want is either not going to do a desk job, or if it is a desk job, it's something where the tasks of the job varies, and that allows me to be creative. Thank you, MDS, for experience you gave me.